Pubs

Victorian dock area, originally built of iron, stone and brick, now fully restored and claiming to be the largest group of Grade I listed buildings in the country. The complex includes car parking, hotels, shops, restaurants and several museums, including: Slavery Museum; Maritime Museum; Beatles Story; and Tate Liverpool. Albert Dock is about a 20-30 minute walk from Lime Street station.

This is the last remaining galleried coaching inn in London. The current building dates from the 17th century, but there has apparently been an inn on the site since medieval times. And it serves a good pint. The property is owned by the National Trust, leased to a tenant.

Hardraw Force, England's highest unbroken waterfall above ground, can only be visited via the Green Dragon Inn in Hardraw, where you will need to pay a small fee. It is worth the effort if you're in the area, but don't expect Niagara Falls. Take stout footwear. The pub is highly tempting.

A tavern since 1695, the Lamb & Flag is owned by St John's College and was voted Oxford's best pub by CAMRA members in 2016. It has some association with JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis and was apparently where Thomas Hardy wrote most of his last novel, Jude the Obscure.

Known as 'the Philly', this is a grand pub opposite Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall, built in grand Victorian splendour rather in the style of a gentlemen's club. Gents - you really should check out the gents! The Philly has been - and probably still is - visited by the great and the good of Liverpool.

Sky Garden is a bar and restaurant complex on the top 3 floors of the 'Walkie-Talkie' - 20 Fenchurch Street in the City of London. This controversial 38-storey office block was designed by Uruguayan architect Rafael Vinoly - the footplate actually increases in size as you ascend the building. It cost £200million and was constructed between January 2009 and May 2014. Sky Garden, which has restricted, but free, public access, was opened in 2015. Here you can enjoy an expensive drink or a meal with some fabulous views over Britain's capital city. You need to book in advance via the website (see below).

One of the oldest pubs in London, said to date from 1585. Full of legends, it was either named because it was once the home of the Spanish Ambassador, or because it was owned by two Spanish brothers, who quarrelled over a woman. Dick Turpin is said to have been a former customer and there are several ghosts. It has appeared in work by Charles Dickens and Bram Stoker - and it has been claimed that Keats wrote 'Ode to a Nightingale' in the garden. The garden, incidentally, is great. A busy, but must visit, kind of place - situated close to Kenwood House and Hampstead Heath.

The Still & West is an iconic early 19th century pub (greatly restored) in Old Portsmouth, right on the harbourside where you can sit and watch the ships go by while enjoying a drink and fish 'n' chips. At time of writing (2017) it is a Fuller's pub serving their version of HSB, the Horndean Special Bitter once brewed by the defunct Gales brewery.

Thought to be one of the oldest pubs in Westminster and named for the porters who carried sedan chairs in the 18th century for the gentry to and from the cockfighting near Cockpit Steps, virtually opposite the pub. The Two Chairmen is very handy for the Houses of Parliament and St James's Park.